I read this interesting post by Gary Vaynerchuk about how LinkedIn is currently positioned. I did find it a small bit perplexing, –
‘LinkedIn right now is going through a Facebook 2012 moment’ – agree.
‘…thinking about for your LinkedIn profile…add context for the LinkedIn crowd! ‘-agree.
I’ve been on internet since things like AOL and Yahoo IM were category kings as online social drivers. They were displaced by the arrival of Facebook and other richer content platforms. Business jumped in smelling monetization through participation which lead to the rise of the ‘influencer’ But it’s important to remember they were ‘Social First’ (SF). LinkedIn came in initially to contest the ‘job-board’ market. I was in LinkedIn quite early on when it had no feed and members were primarily recruitment agents, hiring managers and jobseekers. Content creation on SF and non SF platforms aren’t the same. Much content doesn’t transfer from one kind to another yielding results. To some extent it does also depend on the results you are looking for. On a non SF platform, taking poorly judged opportunities to participate may create the impression your head is not in ‘the game’ and that’s never good for business.
I consider traction in one of three areas to be essential for contribution fit. These are: 1. Industry Sector(s) 2. Occupation/Technical Understanding. 3. Geo-Market and demonstrating geo soft skills. I work on an 80/20 split on this and try to discipline myself not to go out of scope more than 20% of the time. My opinion is if I give 80% relevance to a chosen community, they will tolerate up to 20% off the mark, and that <20% gives the opportunity to dimension myself as a ‘person’.
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I am C2B so I grow my network fairly deliberately and rather slowly. I only need to gain the attention of a few key needles, not an every ballooning haystack. Gary seems to diverge from his earlier themes a bit towards the end of his video.
One key takeaway for me though is where Gary says: (the golden era of LI) ‘it will go away…. they always do…. it went away… My Space… Facebook… it goes away everywhere…. it’s supply and demand of attention…’
This holds concerns for the future for me because my business model is only well supported by Non SF rather than SF platforms. You know what they say about failing to plan being planning to fail.. Since LinkedIn came along in 2003, I have seen nothing appear to contest its space. As a non SF juggernaut, if and when LinkedIn goes ‘off the boil’ as Gary suggests is inevitable at some point.. what is the non SF presidential candidate that is waiting in the wings?
Surely, to be prepared, C2B people need to start preparing for that now?
Also Reference:
https://theundercoverrecruiter.com/job-board-history-info/